Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling

So there are all sorts of ways in which we, certainly at my age, walking past a shop window is a very charged thing. I've got to suck my stomach in and hold my head in a certain way that it looks like I have more hair than I do. So we do it in life. But what happens is that at the much deeper level, we find it hard to cope with just the human condition. And we find it hard to cope with death.

So there are all sorts of ways in which we, certainly at my age, walking past a shop window is a very charged thing. I've got to suck my stomach in and hold my head in a certain way that it looks like I have more hair than I do. So we do it in life. But what happens is that at the much deeper level, we find it hard to cope with just the human condition. And we find it hard to cope with death.

We find it hard to cope with uncertainty in particular. And so we don't quite know how to regulate our own curiosity or make sense of this desire. Some people are just naturally curious. We all know them, right? They're always looking stuff up online and looking at documentaries. And then there are people who generally think they don't need to know more than they do.

We find it hard to cope with uncertainty in particular. And so we don't quite know how to regulate our own curiosity or make sense of this desire. Some people are just naturally curious. We all know them, right? They're always looking stuff up online and looking at documentaries. And then there are people who generally think they don't need to know more than they do.

We find it hard to cope with uncertainty in particular. And so we don't quite know how to regulate our own curiosity or make sense of this desire. Some people are just naturally curious. We all know them, right? They're always looking stuff up online and looking at documentaries. And then there are people who generally think they don't need to know more than they do.

And then there are people, and they're the interesting ones, who are really resistant to new information, right? They have their views about things. This is my view about vaccines, and it's not gonna change. And so I think about how people get into that sort of position. When it comes to politics, you can see how this would work itself out ideologically.

And then there are people, and they're the interesting ones, who are really resistant to new information, right? They have their views about things. This is my view about vaccines, and it's not gonna change. And so I think about how people get into that sort of position. When it comes to politics, you can see how this would work itself out ideologically.

And then there are people, and they're the interesting ones, who are really resistant to new information, right? They have their views about things. This is my view about vaccines, and it's not gonna change. And so I think about how people get into that sort of position. When it comes to politics, you can see how this would work itself out ideologically.

But I also think we live in a special period, and that's what you mentioned. I've learned a lot from the books of a Polish sociologist now dead named Zygmunt Bauman, B-A-U-M-A-N-N, that your listeners may or may not know. And he wrote a number of books with the word liquid in the title, the first one, The Liquid Society. He was a former Marxist, and he had this deep idea, which is that

But I also think we live in a special period, and that's what you mentioned. I've learned a lot from the books of a Polish sociologist now dead named Zygmunt Bauman, B-A-U-M-A-N-N, that your listeners may or may not know. And he wrote a number of books with the word liquid in the title, the first one, The Liquid Society. He was a former Marxist, and he had this deep idea, which is that

But I also think we live in a special period, and that's what you mentioned. I've learned a lot from the books of a Polish sociologist now dead named Zygmunt Bauman, B-A-U-M-A-N-N, that your listeners may or may not know. And he wrote a number of books with the word liquid in the title, the first one, The Liquid Society. He was a former Marxist, and he had this deep idea, which is that

Marx's and Engels's idea of everything solid melting into air was for them a tragedy. They believed in solidity. And what they thought was that the sort of atomization of life under capitalism was unhealthy and we needed to move to a more stable, just society, which would be after the revolution.

Marx's and Engels's idea of everything solid melting into air was for them a tragedy. They believed in solidity. And what they thought was that the sort of atomization of life under capitalism was unhealthy and we needed to move to a more stable, just society, which would be after the revolution.

Marx's and Engels's idea of everything solid melting into air was for them a tragedy. They believed in solidity. And what they thought was that the sort of atomization of life under capitalism was unhealthy and we needed to move to a more stable, just society, which would be after the revolution.

But we find ourselves living in societies not where, as in archaic societies, that the institutions we're born into exist where we die, or in a situation where maybe one or two things change. But we've created a world for ourselves where everything is changing all the time. And with the internet, we're aware, potentially, of everything going on everywhere at all moments.

But we find ourselves living in societies not where, as in archaic societies, that the institutions we're born into exist where we die, or in a situation where maybe one or two things change. But we've created a world for ourselves where everything is changing all the time. And with the internet, we're aware, potentially, of everything going on everywhere at all moments.

But we find ourselves living in societies not where, as in archaic societies, that the institutions we're born into exist where we die, or in a situation where maybe one or two things change. But we've created a world for ourselves where everything is changing all the time. And with the internet, we're aware, potentially, of everything going on everywhere at all moments.

We're not built to cope with this. We're not built to live this way. We're sort of built to live on land, and instead, we're all suddenly on surfboards, and the waves keep coming, and we're just trying to stay afloat. And in that sort of situation, This will to ignorance comes out as a kind of healthy one, too, that people can't make sense of all this change. And so they shut down.

We're not built to cope with this. We're not built to live this way. We're sort of built to live on land, and instead, we're all suddenly on surfboards, and the waves keep coming, and we're just trying to stay afloat. And in that sort of situation, This will to ignorance comes out as a kind of healthy one, too, that people can't make sense of all this change. And so they shut down.

We're not built to cope with this. We're not built to live this way. We're sort of built to live on land, and instead, we're all suddenly on surfboards, and the waves keep coming, and we're just trying to stay afloat. And in that sort of situation, This will to ignorance comes out as a kind of healthy one, too, that people can't make sense of all this change. And so they shut down.